


Home Again

by afteriwake



Series: All's Fair [12]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Aftermath of a Case, Being Careful Around Each Other, Don Flack Takes Care of Jessica Angell, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Angell, Protective Flack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 19:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11927811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Jessica goes home from the hospital and it takes a bit to get settled in.





	Home Again

**Author's Note:**

> This was an answer to **csi50** 's theme #5 for set #3 (" _hold me_ ").

He was being careful around her, she noticed. Physically careful, mostly, but just careful all around. Even though her ribs still hurt like hell she just wanted him to wrap his arms around her and hold her for a while. She'd gotten that through to him a little when she'd asked him to climb into the hospital bed with her, but it almost felt like it wasn't enough.

Not right now. Maybe not ever.

"You need anything?" he asked as he headed into her kitchen. There had never been that awkwardness between them, when you started spending time at someone else's house and you weren't sure if you could go into the kitchen and just grab something to eat. It had been an open refrigerator door policy for both of them. And right now, watching him get comfortable in her apartment, she wanted to ask him not to leave for a while.

"Just something to drink. Orange juice?"

"Got it." He went over to her cupboard and pulled out two glasses before going over to her fridge and pulling out the container of orange juice. He opened it up and poured it out into the two glasses. "That's the last of it. I'll pick up some more for you later."

"You don't have to."

"I know. But I want to." He brought out the juice to her. "Can I?"

She took the glass from him. "Yeah, you can help me out, if you really want to." She was touched that he wanted to help her. He wasn't acting the way most guys she knew would act. She knew he had been angry. Danny had told her that much when she'd pressed him for answers. But he hadn't yelled at her or talked to her through ground teeth once.

"Okay. I figure maybe I can cook for you a couple nights a week, so you don't have to rely on take-out."

"I'd like that." She took a drink and felt some of the juice dribble down her chin. She still wasn't used to having to use her left hand for everything. She glanced over at Flack as she wiped her chin off with the back of her hand. If he'd noticed, he wasn't about to say anything.

"Anything else you need?"

"Stay over for a while."

"You mean tonight? I wasn't planning on going home till late."

She shook her head. "No, I mean...stay here for a while. With me. I don't really know if I can handle being alone right now."

He nodded and sat down next to her before putting his juice on the coffee table. Then he took her juice from her and did the same with that. "Right now, I want to stick around for a while. I just didn't want to bring it up, in case you thought it was too much."

He reached over and very gently pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her as best he could without hurting her. She settled in and relaxed. "No, I want you to stay."

"Good," he said quietly. "Part of me doesn't want to let you out of my sight for a while. I went weeks without really getting to talk to you, and then you get hurt, and..." He tightened his grip involuntarily and she sucked in a breath. Instantly he loosened it again. "Sorry."

"I didn't mean to scare you, Don."

"When you called me, and you told me you didn't know where you were, I started to panic. If I hadn't already been at the labs I would have had someone call them and get them to trace your phone. I just knew I couldn't stop talking to you. I had to make sure you were okay."

"You were the first person I thought to call," she said as she shut her eyes. "I should have called Mac, but...I needed to hear you, you know? I needed to let you know I was okay."

"You weren't okay, though," he said. "When you said you were hurt I started thinking second worst case scenario there."

"Second worst case?"

"You could walk, you could get out of there. If you hadn't been able to..." He drifted off slightly and shifted so he could kiss her forehead gently. "Don't scare me like that again, okay?"

"I'll try."

"I can take that for now," he said, lapsing into silence as he held her close. She slowly started to drift off to sleep, feeling completely safe for the first time in weeks.


End file.
